etc6849

@boneman @Evo-No-Revo Thanks guys. Too bad you can't hear it While the case didn't really do anything for my sound, the new power supply (Seasonic SSR-850TR) did get rid of the "coil whine" I was hearing from using my GTX 1080 GPU. While it wasn't noticeable until I modded the GPU with Noctua fans, it was annoying when watching a movie with quiet scenes, but was totally gone after getting a larger power supply. I'm honestly not sure how much it matters for sound as my DACs are outside of my PC (housed inside the Xilica XD4080 speaker processors), but the SSR-850TR has some of the best measurements for a power supply without capacitors on the cables.

Video of the VFD, volume control and remote in action: https://drive.google.com/open?id=19DguWj0G3R-7xSj7UBlGWrW507STXZSA

It was definitely worth the wait on this custom A-Tech Fabrication PC chassis. The case was built by a master craftsman/machinist and is a true handmade case built in the USA; although a tad expensive, well worth it if you think about the hours they must have spent to make every part, the large heatsinks, hand brush even the inside surfaces, etc... If you don't have a CNC machine and months to spend designing such a case, it is an extreme value for what you get (compared to the snake oil stuff I see anyways) and they really do make the best PC cases I have ever seen. http://atechfabrication.com/ Glenn and his team did an incredible job. The fit and finish is something you'd see on a $10k+ audio component. A-Tech's custom mount for the Griffin PowerMate knob: Some more pics of the inside. I made the internal cables, bought and assembled the PC components, custom programmed the VFD and Griffin Powermate knob, replaced Nvidia GTX 1080 fans and power supply fan, etc... This PC is super super quiet incase you are wondering. Regrettably, I couldn't passively cool the GPU as the highest A-Tech can do right now in my case is a GTX 1070 and I had already bought the GTX 1080 on Black Friday (for under $500... crazy how video cards went up in price). Older pics of the back of the front rack. I built these and made all audio cables (this older pic has a OrigenAE case). Some note worthy technical details: Hard to find slim Pioneer UHD drive (for 4k UHD blu-ray playback) Nvidia GTX 1080, fed using MadVR for video rendering RME HDSPe AES audio card with 16 in/out channels. This card has a 42 bit internal DSP and the RME TotalMix software is used for crystal clear volume control at very low volumes. Benchmark AHB2 amps, truly a technological achievement with the best measurements ever shown on Stereophile: https://www.stereophile.com/content/benchmark-media-systems-ahb2-power-amplifier-measurements. The noise floor is so low you cannot hear it, and the distortion is the best available right now. The difference is very audible incase you were wondering too! Xilica XD4080 speaker processors (each unit has 40 bit DSPs and integrated DACs for output channels, 4 in/8 out). The Xilica's are setup to tri-amp my front speakers and cross to 5 subs to yield even lower distortion. They have FIR filters for high/mid/low, and I use a low order Bessel filter to cross to the subs. Of course the room has several sound treatments and bass traps to enhance performance evermore, and no EQ adjustment is needed to achieve +/-5dB at main listening position all the way down to about 16Hz. This took 5 time aligned and level matched subs to do without Dirac, but the performance improvement is incredible.

Nice! I have been looking for a solution I can recommend to friends that hear my 5.1 setup using three Xilica XD4080 processors (each is 4x8, so tri-amping 5 channels (FIR filters) plus time aligning 5 subs). I know most want a car and not an audio system instead. However, are the filters implemented after Dirac? If not, my understanding is they will add phase shift and Dirac won't correct for this. PS: any updates coming for the Windows Dirac Live software? If so, I'm an electrical engineer and could be a great beta tester

Been enjoying your Dirac Live software for a few months now However, for those of us who just purchased Dirac Live in 2016/2017, I'm hoping there will be an upgrade option for Unison? Always interested in improving my waterfall and impulse response plots further

I got a decent deal on a b-stock RME HDSPe AES card and with the advent of 4k UHD bluray playback on my PC, I want to eliminate my Emotiva XMC-1 AV processor completely. I will use my PC for all decoding and room correction (Dirac Live) and supplement it with another Xilica XD4080 to handle additional bass management. This means no standalone preamp or home theater processor. Going to buy another Xilica XD4080 (#2) and send AES outputs for 7.1 to two Xilica processors where one XD4080 #1's active crossover is used for: driving mono subs, FL and FR (tri amp outputs) and center amp, and the other XD4080 #2 used for driving my rear speakers and side speakers (eventually I'll fully tri-amp or quasi bi-amp my rear speakers and add side speakers). My question is what is the best option for handling bass? Option A: I could use the RME TotalMix Fx software console to sum all 8 channels and send it out via AES and let the Xilica do a LPF and time delays for this mono signal and send it out to the subs. The problem with doing this is that if there was LFE content above the cutoff frequency (90Hz) it would be lost, although I could send it out FL and FR using XD4080 #1. Option B: FL, FR and C would get crossed to sub out internally by XD4080 #1, LFE would also be sent to sub's analog out (AES signals from PC: FL & FR, C & LFE so two XLR AES cables). Additionally, I'd send AES out from XD4080 #2 into XD4080 #1; this signal from XD4080 #2 would contain low frequencies for rear and side speakers and be summed in XD4080 #1. This wastes half an input pair (due to the way the Xilica assigns AES I/O), and I am also uncertain about latency here, although since I plan to use two of the same model speaker processors, latency differences would likely not matter. XD4080: http://xilica.com/products/xd/ RME AES card: https://www.rme-audio.de/en/products/hdspe_aes.php Small drawback to the above: 1. I would need to find a foobar2000 plugin that would down sample anything above 96kHz for input into the Xilica's. 2. No Atmos/DTS-X decoder right now for consumer software playback (although this could eventually change). Doesn't matter to me now though as I don't see myself using more than 8 channel in the next 2-4 years and most of my moves are 5.1 anyways. Lots of pluses: 1. RME uses 42 bit processing and seems like it would be a superior volume control to what any preamp can offer (including an analog pre driving the XD4080's analog input). 2. PC does all decoding, which makes things future proof. 3. Lower noise floor as the XMC-1 is doing unnecessary A/D and D/A conversions for front speakers that are triamped off XD4080 #1. 4. 40 bit processing with DSP in the Xilicas, 42 bit processing with DSP in RME card and 32 bit room correction done through software using a CPU (not a DSP). All are superior to what any processor under $15k can do. 5. Much more versatility, FIR filtering for LF/MF and MF/HF if I later tri-amp more speakers. 6. Much better sub alignment as I can pick the order and filter type for how each speaker is crossed to subs (assuming option B). 7. No worry of upgrading processor when HDMI or HDCP changes in the future (sick and tired of this). 8. Avoids ADC of the Xilica channel inputs (right now when AV processor feeds these there is unnecessary D/A and A/D conversion taking place).

Yes it is the cable. Amazon has many reviews about the Corning USB 3.0 cable failing as does other sites. Mine is dead completely now, and I've only used it for measurements a few times since July. I tried two computers, two external devices (HD and USB soundcard both having external power supplies). When the cable is recognized, device manager shows "Unkown Device" device and reports a device error (tried windows 7 and 10 PC's). This cable has very poor reliability, and Corning's website and support suck. No phone numbers or email addresses anywhere. You have to return it to where you bought it from for any warranty service, so hopefully B&H honors the 1 year warranty (bought it in late July 2016). Most online vendors are not going to take a return after 5 - 12 months, so be careful where you buy it from. If B&H doesn't take it back, I'm going to do a charge back if possible. I literally used this cable 10 times, and finally got my room setup to use it permanently feeding and now the cable doesn't work

Thanks. I'll probably wait for an Adorama combo deal and sell whatever headphones come with it. Thinking I can flip the lcd-3's that come with the pro ican I ordered and end up a little below $1k. Need to do something similar on the pro idsd or I'll probably pass.

Thanks. Picture makes sense now. Looks really nice, just got an iCan pro and waiting for it to arrive. Does Music Direct negotiate at all on prices? Hopefully Adorama will carry the Pro iDSD as they are known to have sales. Can't really justify the price at $1999, but I really love my ifi iDSD for portable listening. Can only think the Pro iDSD will be killer. Anyone looking for an ifi Pro iCan and LCD-3, here is the deal it got (not sure how long the deal will last): AUDEZE LCD-3 Planar Magnetic Headphones with Case, Leather W/iFi Pro iCAN Ampflf LCD3-L-ZW-TC G

Did you call to see when it will be released? Also, link shows wrong picture?

Did anyone else notice a difference when switching from HDMI audio via nVidia (old GTX 460) + WASAPI to Intel HD Audio over HDMI? I swear the stereo image is deeper now and slightly more real sounding, but I can't 100% rule out that it's psychological. I'm using foobar2000 with WASAPI under Windows 7. Could there be some difference in the WASAPI driver?

Did anyone try the firmware to enable iso support on the Oppo 105d? If so, how well do iso's play over the network? Are DVD-A iso's indeed supported? It seems the seller also offers the latest firmware as part of the hack. Is this true? $79 seems like a dodgy price to charge for code they mostly stole from Oppo. I just want to make sure I'm not going to get cheated or brick my player by trying the firmware. Also, what does "7. Keep the usb stick in the player all the time, and try to play iso file or other functions" mean? Will I really need to leave the USB stick in the player all the time for iso support to work?